The Basics:
The HL-T5689S is a 56-inch, 1080p DLP rear-projection television that replaces the traditional DLP color-wheel/lamp combination with a light engine that uses red, green and blue LEDs. This advanced technology adds a little more to the bottom line, compared with a standard DLP RPTV, but this TV is still a good deal compared with similarly-sized flat panels.

The HL-T5689S includes Samsung’s Digital Natural Image engine (DNIe) processing and Cinema Smooth light engine, designed to reduce visible pixel structure and improve fine detail. The well-designed menu system contains a nice assortment of picture adjustments, including white-balance controls, a choice of three color gamuts (wide, normal and sRGB), and a My Color Control that lets you fine-tune pink, green and blue hues independently. There are six aspect ratio choices, including a Just Scan mode for viewing 1080i/1080p images with no overscan.

The TV’s input panel includes three HDMI inputs and two component video inputs that accept 1080p, as well as a USB port through which you can view JPEGs and play MP3s. The TV’s built-in Bluetooth wireless capability allows it to communicate with Bluetooth-enabled photo printers and headphones. This TV is also 3D-ready; you can attach an optional 3D emitter via the sync port on the input panel.

The TV’s thin-bezel design keeps the amount of frame surrounding the screen to a minimum, and two down-firing 10-watt speakers reside discreetly in the bottom of the cabinet. SRS TruSurround XT audio processing is on board to produce a simulated surround field.

The Upside:
The use of LED backlighting eliminates the rainbows that some people see in a traditional lamp-based DLP TV; it also improves the TV’s longevity and reduces long-term cost, as you don’t have to replace the lamp after a few thousand hours of use. The TV produces a bright, colorful, well-detailed HD image, and it doesn’t suffer from motion blur with fast-moving images.

The Downside:
RPTV screens commonly suffer from brightness-uniformity issues, with the center of the image being brighter than its edges. Also, there’s no way to reduce the TV’s light output to improve black level, as you can with other technologies. While Samsung has reduced the cabinet depth to just 14 inches, this TV still can’t compete with a flat panel’s space-saving form factor.

Conclusion:
RPTVs are still the best deal in town for large-screen HDTVs, and this 56-inch RPTV offers a bright, pleasing 1080p picture with nice color and detail and abundant features.